Our commanders where truly utter ****, thinking an army made for WWI could fight in Russia without tanks, artillery, aviation and logistics, and fight in Africa with even less materials. Mussolini wanted "some dead soldiers in order to be able to sit at the peace table" and claim his war wage, but he was only a foolish piece of ****.

Our troops, on the other side, gave all they could to win first, and to survive then, even in absolutely overwhelmingly inferior conditions: I personally salute them for demonstrating the bravery and chivalry of Italian warriors.

Yes, "Supermarina" (the navy) was never aligned with the fascists: they could have easily dominate the Mediterranean Sea, blocking all and any attempt by the Brits to maintain positions in Egypt and North Africa, at least until the American Carriers would show up. Also, they made huge efforts to make it easier for Allied forces to invade Sicily and thus liberate the country: many Italian soldiers defended their positions until death, but also many fought with Allied forces, to show to the world that not everybody was a filthy fascist, and they did from September 1943 until the end of war.

I agree that we never really win any battle by ourselves, but as I said our army was stuck in the WWI era, with outdated artillery, no tanks, bolt action rifles, no antitank weaponry, mules and horses instead of trucks, and a too small air force (although our planes where not so bad).

Yet, our soldiers demonstrated to be very tough, capable and willing, despite all the difficulties and the terrible, terrible situation in our country.